Monday, September 30, 2013

..., the Iranians are now prepared, it appears, to negotiate. We have to test diplomacy. We have to see if, in fact, they are serious about their willingness to abide by international norms and international law and international requirements and resolutions. And we in good faith will approach them, indicating that it is our preference to resolve these issues diplomatically.
But we enter into these negotiations very clear-eyed. They will not be
easy. And anything that we do will require the highest standards of
verification in order for us to provide the sort of sanctions relief
that I think they are looking for.
So we will be in close consultation with Israel and our other friends and allies in the region during this process...

Yaakov Ariel, a professor of religious studies at the University of
North Carolina provides a very interesting and informative history of the relationship between dispensationalist premillennialist Christians and Jews. [which] has become
widespread and deeply influential amongst evangelical Christians. It
can be traced back to Calvinists and Pietists and has variations, but
the basic belief is that Jesus will return to earth to reign for a
thousand years before the kingdom of God is definitively established,
and that the Jews have an important role to play in this drama. In
fact, according to this theology of history, human history has entered a
new dispensation, an age that is one of proximate preparation for the
millennial rule of Jesus on earth. Some Jews will convert and evangelize
the world and some will return to the Land of Israel and reconstitute a
Hebrew commonwealth there, eventually rebuilding the Temple.

Dr. Ariel stresses that this form of Christianity is markedly
different from prior forms in holding that the Christian church has
not replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people. Its followers are
biblical literalists and oppose a ‘spiritualized” interpretation of
scripture. Thus they see the Hebrew nation as still chosen with an
important role to play in salvation history and are (or will be again)
God’s first nation...some evangelical thinkers today believe the Temple will serve a
positive function in the millennial kingdom.

Dr. Ariel also points to the increasingly friendly attitude
evangelical Christians manifest towards Jews, in part as a result of
encountering them and working with or for them. These encounters can be
ambiguous. Evangelicals are strongly missionary oriented and
dispensationalist premillenarians have often targeted Jews in
particular. At the same time, they have often opposed the mistreatment
of Jews and anti-Semitic attitudes. Most notably, many have come to be
strong supporters of Zionism and the State of Israel.

This paradoxical—or at least complicated—attitude towards the Jews is
shown most strongly in the juxtaposition of the final two chapters.
One is about evangelical support for those Hebrews seeking to rebuild
the Temple and reestablish its sacrificial rites. The other deals
with the rise of so-called Messianic Judaism, evangelical Jews who
strongly assert their Jewish identity, and the acceptance of this
movement by many gentile evangelicals. All this was unimaginable not
all that long ago and both have arisen, according to Dr. Ariel, because
of the doctrine of the end times that has become widespread amongst
evangelicals and the role it is believed the Hebrew nation will play in
these future events...

Just to be clear. We are not being targeted here in Yesha. And it wouldn't be successful, either.

Oshaya once argued this very point with a
Roman: If the Romans had not managed to annihilate the Jews after so
many years, it was not because they were well-disposed to the Jews, but
“because you do not know how to do it.”

To which the Roman responded: “I swear by Gappa, god of the Romans,
with this we lie down and with this we rise up.” That is, the Roman
admitted that his people think of nothing else, morning and night, than
how to exterminate the Jews.

R. Oshaia said: What is meant by the verse, Even the righteous acts of His Ruler in Israel? [Judge 5:11] The Holy One, blessed be He, showed righteousness [mercy] unto Israel by scattering them among the nations. And this is what a certain sectarian said to R. Hanina, ‘We are better than you. Of you it is written, For Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom; [I Kings 11:16] whereas you have been with us many years yet we have not done anything to you!’ Said he to him, ‘If you agree, a disciple will debate it with you.’ [Thereupon] R. Oshaia debated it with him, [and] he said to him,’ [The reason is] because you do not know how to act. If you would destroy all, they are not among you. [Should you destroy] those who are among you, then you will be called a murderous kingdom!’ Said he to him, ‘By the Capitol of Rome! with this [care] we lie down and with this [care] we get up.

I wonder with what do the Pals. go to bed in the evening and arise in the morning.^
^

Asked whether Prime Minister Netanyahu was sincere in seeking peace,
Hanegbi said he had changed in the past 20 years and now faced a choice
of “making history or becoming history.” Recalling that he had been bombarded with messages and calls urging him
not to attend the J Street conference, the former minster said he had
examined the J Street website and looked at its beliefsand concluded
that the organization and its memberswere motivated by love of Israel
and play an important role in the discussion about Israel’s future.

I admit it.

I was one of those who suggested to Tzachi not to attend.He asked me if I was advocating blackballing them or, to be Middle East, to boycott them and place them outside the community pale.I said no. If they came to Jerusalem, he should even receive them in his committee room at the Knesset. But to go to Washington as an official guest and speak at their convention is another thing entirely.I tried to explain their danger and their record and sent him factual, resourced and annotated material. His English is fine.But for him to say that he based his decision on reading their web site?That is research? he has assistants. He could probably have asked the Knesset research unit for material. He could have asked other Likud members.I honor his decision, even if disagreeing and I respect his political views. But to admit that his decision was made on a reading of J Street's web site?That is too hard to accept or respect._______________________UPDATEJTA now updates as to what he said politically:

“...every issue has a compromise that can be relevant to both sides,” Hanegbi said while speaking as part of a panel of Israeli lawmakers at the J Street national conference in Washington.

Hanegbi said the question of Palestinian refugees returning to Israel was the one issue on which there could be no compromise in the recently revived peace talks.

“We do know the two-state solution is the only relevant solution, even to those right-wing members of Knesset,” Hanegbi said. “I think they understand the alternative — escalation and bloodshed, or one state — is not an option if you want to keep a Jewish, Zionist state.”

...“Look, you’re afraid that Jerusalem will be divided? No, it’s going to be some creative idea that will allow them to have their own sovereignty in their neighborhoods and to declare whatever they want to declare about it, and we will have sovereignty over other parts,” Hanegbi, who is considered a confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters.

“All these things will be worked out. The devil is, as you know, in the details.”

Yes, we know. But we also know all about the devil.

UP-UPDATE

In a briefing on Sunday, Tzachi Hanegbi of the Likud party informed reporters that a “creative solution” to the problem of Jerusalem could be found whereby the Arab neighbourhoods would be placed under Palestinian control, but refused to label it a division. “Look, you’re afraid that Jerusalem will be divided? No, it’s going to be some creative idea that will allow them to have their own sovereignty in their neighborhoods and to declare whatever they want to declare about it, and we will have sovereignty over other parts,” Hanegbi stated.

"J Street is a left-wing pro-Israel organization, which shares attitudes with many Israeli citizens. This was a good opportunity to hear their stances and show them mine, without softening or whitewashing the disagreements between us," Hanegbi explained. "I don't agree with them, but [their criticisms of Israel] are legitimate."

There is a difference between supporting Israel and agreeing with all of its government's policies, he added.

Hanegbi touted the importance of dialog, saying it is the only way to have an influence.

"I'm willing to talk to Palestinians, Iran and the extreme left. We need better communication," he stated.

P.S. Found a picture taken by Yariv Oppenheimer, Tzachi with MK Meirav Michaeli (Labor):

Ian Lustick...wrote "Arabs in the Jewish State,"...the best book on the subject of Arabs in Israel...on the opinion pages of the New York Times, Lustick explained...his conversion...Lustick...now believes this solution is no longer possible.

The weakness of the "one-state" solution is of course its utopianism...Lustick prefers a new illusion.

Except that this is not just an illusion, but a surrender to the settlers and a transformation of the central left-wing battle...Is there an organization capable of uniting Palestinians and Jews, and whose institutions will build the "one state in the making"?...Israeli[s of]...this genre...are characterized by their inability to think about the Palestinians’ will...So it turns out the feathers of the two-state solution have been plucked and its radical left-wing supporters are stuttering....

His way out?

A militant political alliance against the settlements is long overdue, one that would go to work in the streets of Israel. This is much more concrete and moral than the illusions of a single state. The status quo is a lilting Israeli tune of negotiations that lingers on until Palestinian nationalism is heard from no more. What will we be? A nation of brutes.

I presume by "brutes", Laor intends to characterize our relationship towards Arabs. We are brutal - and cruel, etc. - he believes. (Are the Arabs ever brutal towards we Jews?)But I would suggest that is not the single interpretation.

It could very well be, and there are enough precedents, that Laor wants to be brutish towards his fellow Jews.

“For instance, how can you support a two-state solution and not be
willing to talk about making the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem
the capital of the new state of Palestine? How can you support a
two-state solution yet refuse to acknowledge that the border’s going to
be drawn upon the pre-’67 armistice lines with minor agreed-upon land
swaps? How can you say you support the two-state solution and call those
pre-’67 borders ‘indefensible’ or be unwilling to talk about evacuating
settlements and bringing settlers home to within the eventual borders
of the State of Israel?”

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Cote de Pablo has a message for her "NCIS" fans: This time, it was personal. Really. The 33-year-old Chilean American actress is leaving CBS' crime smash
early this season after playing Mossad-agent-turned-NCIS-operative Ziva
David since 2005.

That is a milk can portrayed as graphic for an ad for the Calcalist economic news daily in Israel, displaying how much background details, data, percentages and figures a good newspaper can and should provide about economic matters.Here is a milk can from 1946:

It is a replica of the seven milk cans brought into the basement of the King David Hotel on July 22, 1946. That day, they contained dynamite.

Resistance, including violence, is “determined at each stage by the national interest”

"[Senior Hamas members] preferred narrow party interests to the supreme national interest, using the word 'resistance' as if there was disagreement about it among Palestinians. I want to remind [them] that resistance to the occupation is a broad all-inclusive concept, with various means and tools, which are determined at each stage by the supreme national interest. It was we [Fatah] who initiated armed resistance for many years, and thanks to it, we obtained recognition of our rights, and [recognition] that the PLO is the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's political adviser said Thursday that Abbas condemns the rocket fire toward Sderot.

Abbas said: "We condemn violence against civilians no matter its
source. We support a mutual ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. I supported
the agreement Hamas and Israel reached by Egyptian mediation."

So much for "violence".

Obama did say more earlier in the morning that day:

The border of Israel and Palestine should be based on 1967 lines with
mutually agreed-to swaps so that secure and recognized borders are
established for both states with robust security provisions so that
Israel retains the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any
threats... Friends of Israel, including the United States, must recognize that
Israel’s security as a Jewish and democratic state depends upon the
realization of a Palestinian state, and we should say so clearly.

and also this

the Palestinian Authority has been a critical mechanism to improve
governance and increase transparency in the West Bank. Obviously, the
Palestinian Authority operates under significant constraints, including
resource constraints. But we think it's very important that we continue
to support efforts that have been made by the Authority, for example,
to improve internal security and professionalize security forces inside
the Authority.

That, Mr. President, is what encourages Palestinian violence. The attitude that they are not really who they are, that their demands are not aimed at weaking Israel and permitting a future offensive.

Since I am involved in forging working relationships with Christians on behalf of the Jewish People's rights in Judea and Samaria and to assure our continued presence, in security and economic strength, in our Biblical heartland, I guess I can presume that this recent report by JewishIsrael (the group that claimed I "found Jesus" and whose leader, one Avraham Leibler, asserted that I "seem to be picking up classic missionary tactics" and even suggested I "worshipped Christains"!!!) on the Shomron Council - which mentions Benjamin Council residents, too - concerns me as well, if not in all details and particulars.That would include such charges as "Leaders Court Christian Missionaries Who Target Jews for Conversion", "turning a blind eye to the risks involved", "regularly solicit and encourage some of the very same evangelical organizations which are actively engaged in missionary activities", "this report will serve as a wake-up call for Jewish leadership", "openly cooperates with Christian and messianic missionary groups", "uses Christian imagery, cites Christian theology, and blurs the lines between faiths", "has formed a remarkable and disturbing bond", "'cover boy', so to speak, of Zola Levitt's missionary newsletter...[which] places emphasis on evangelizing and the need to build-up the messianic community in Israel" and, the 'best' of all:

"shmad" would not be an incorrect term to use for what is being allowed to occur in Israel.

All summed up so, that I and others:

...need to stop and think, and to use a great deal of wisdom, foresight and honesty in their dealings with evangelizing Christians. As an alternative, perhaps they should stop dealing with them altogether! It is most tragic that Torah observant leadership in Israel has unabashedly chosen to partner with and embrace those who are determined to draw Jews away from their faith.

I really have not that much time to continue to respond to slurs, misquotations, misrepresentations, innuendos, guilt-by-association and other such desperate attempts by JewishIsrael to hurt and injure Rabbinic-approbated and authorized attempts in the fields of Hasbara, diplomacy and politics. Not in theology or ecumenism.No Jewish soul has been 'lost' in this enterprise.We do combat active missionizing and make clear to our partners that we have zero-toleration in this matter.I do feel that despite their disclaimer, JewishIsrael, in its over-enthusiastic attempts to "save", are deliberately, for their own uses, manipulating what goes on and what results from our activities and are hurting the national camp of which they say they are part. They slander.Christian Zionism, as it is termed, is not only part of the history of the establishment of the state of Israel, but fits with the prophecies that the 'foreigner' will come and then, at a later stage, attach himself to the redemptive process.We, my friends and I, are satisfied that we are doing our best, with success in assuring that no harm will come to any Jew or the state of Israel through our efforts but that only good will be the result.I cannot say the same for what JewishIsrael is doing in this sphere of their blogging.And that's a shanda.^

"incursions"? "storming"? How open-ended is this blog? Those terms
are repugnant and reflect a mind-set that is anti-Jewish. We Jews
deserve by right at least a level of coexistence on the Temple Mount
that is practiced at Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs. Or at least the
lowering of the Denial Phenomenon. And that "banning"? Not because of
our holidays but because of Arab violence.Peter, can you exert some form of editorialship and at least correct factual errors?

Abbas, who many consider
yellow-bellied,...called out Israel’s daily incursions of the Al Aqsa compound...The repeated
attacks on worshippers in Jerusalem were condemned by Abbas, who timidly
shared that if the near-daily attacks on the Al Aqsa compound
continued, there could be “dire consequences”...

...The Dome of
the Rock protects the rock that Abraham didn’t sacrifice his son on and
that Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven from...to the chagrin of the Israeli extremists who insist on
storming the compound and shouting about rebuilding the Temple and
bringing on Armageddon. These are not folks coming to solemnly worship
during the several visiting hours open to non-Muslims. This is
incitement.

Why
shouldn’t the Al Aqsa compound be open to all faiths? The answer is
that it is, except during times of prayer and religious holidays.
Israeli soldiers control who enters the compound, and then the Islamic
guardians of the holy sanctuary, known as the Waqf, get their chance to
reject visitors. I have often had to do the chicken dance to prove to
the soldiers that I am Muslim so they will allow me to enter. I have
never been asked to prove my religion by the Islamic Waqf. Only the IDF
has questioned my faith. During visiting hours I have entered with
friends of all faiths, no questions asked. Just take off your shoes and
cover your hair if you identify as female. This is not about banning
Jews from visiting, but about stopping incitement by zealots.

Violence
is being wrought upon Muslims worshipping in the Old City by extremists
who believe it is their divine right to shout and shoot in this sacred
space and the Israeli government is complicit in the daily harassment.
The IDF protects those storming the compound by firing off sound bombs,
tear gas, rubber bullets, and even live ammunition to clear the way.
They have also trapped people praying inside the houses of worship for
hours on end during these clashes...

Israel
controls who enters Muslim, Christian, and Jewish holy sites in
Jerusalem and is known to ban access to Palestinians if it happens to be
one of their holidays...The daily incursions, permit restrictions, and random closures
do nothing to support the notion that Israel is serious about peace, the
two-state solution, or religious equality in the Holy Land.

Now do you understand my comment?

Even an American-born 'Palestinian' easily learns to lie, to misrepresent and to misconstrue reality in the service of her propaganda.

*Ms. Zayid is a comedian, actress, and writer. She is the Co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and founder of Maysoon's Kids. Follow her on twitter @MaysoonZayid and see her work at www.Maysoon.com

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani broke his relative silence on the
Palestinian issue Thursday afternoon, telling the Council on Foreign
Relations in New York that the Palestinians should not have “to pay” the
price of Nazi crimes against the Jews...

JERUSALEM, May 4— Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel last night accused Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of arrogance, greed and callous disregard of the Jews killed in World War II. Mr. Begin's choice of words concerning the West German leader, which came during a speech at a political rally here, stunned foreign diplomats.

The anger of the Israeli leader was caused by a statement by Mr. Schmidt in which he suggested that Germans had a moral commitment to the Palestinians. The statement was made by Mr. Schmidt last week after he returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia...And in an even more personal vein, Mr. Begin said Mr. Schmidt had served in the wartime German armies that helped wipe out the Jews.

In World War II, Helmut Schmidt was assigned to an antiaircraft artillery battalion. He served on the Russian front and, toward the end of the war, in the Battle of the Bulge on the Western front. He was decorated with the Iron Cross. The British took him prisoner at the end of the war.

Mr. Begin's remarks were loudly applauded by supporters at the party meeting. Mr. Begin is campaigning for elections being held next month.

''From a moral point of view, Schmidt's statements certainly rank as the most callous ever heard,'' Mr. Begin said. ''It seems that the Holocaust had conveniently slipped his memory and he did not make mention of a million and a half small children murdered, of entire families wiped out.

''The German debt to the Jewish people can never end, not in this generation and not in any other. The entire nation cheered on the murderers as long as they were victorious. But what do we hear? We hear of a commitment to those who strove to complete what the Germans had started in Europe.''

Mr. Begin said Mr. Schmidt ''must have concluded some very lucrative business deals with Saudi Arabia.''

I will not apologize to Mr. Schmidt [who mentioned Auschwitz and said that he
acknowledges the obligation of Germany towards a number of peoples - but
the Jewish people was not listed amongst them. Mr. Schmidt spoke of
Germany's obligation towards the Palestinians and said not a word of
Germany's obligation towards the Jewish people]. Rather, I
counsel him, speaking as a free man who fought for the continued
existence and the liberation of the Jewish people, that he take an
example from his predecessor Mr. Brandt, visit Warsaw, go to the site
where the Jewish ghetto once stood, go down on his knees and ask the
forgiveness of the Jewish people and of all nations loving justice and
liberty for what his countrymen perpetrated under the National Socialist
regime against my people at the time when Mr. Schmidt remained faithful
to the personal oath he had given to Adolf Hitler as a soldier and
officer in his army.

What is the subtext here?

First, the message of Rouhani as was Schmidt's is that we Jews 'earned' a state only through the displacement of Arabs indigenous to a region called Palestine. That displacement was done because, and only because, we were forced to leave Europe as a result of the rise of Naziism and the results of the Holocaust. We were kicked out of Europe and so we kicked out the Arabs.If the Holocaust had not happened, we Jews would still be in Europe. Zionism is a post-1933 phenomenon.That leads to the second point: there is no Zionism. There is no Zionism that was born with the Jewish People being told to go to Moriah, as in Abraham's day, to go to the Land of Israel from Egypt under Moses' leadership, to return from Babylon with Ezra and Nehemiah, to revolt against Rome a second time after the Temple's destruction and since then, to continue to Return to Zion in every decade of every century until the stirrings of a political Zionism, beginning with Rabbis Alkalai and Kalischer, in to the Hibbat Zion movement and then with the appearance of Herzl and companions.From that perspective - false, untrue and evil - Rouhani and, before him, Schmidt, seek to deny the Jews our national ethos, our history, our religion, our culture.Make no mistake: this is the denial of our rights as a people.And stemming from this denial is the desire - and the active engagement to achieve the power - to destroy Israel.

She's Emma Joy Kitchener, the daughter of Hon. Charles Eaton Kitchener and Ursula Hope Luck, born in 1963. She's the great-granddaughter of Henry Elliott Chevallier Kitchener, 2nd Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, and great-grandniece to the more famous Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener and through him, there is, yes, a connection to the Land of Israel. And even to Jews, in that his death was attributed to a "Jewish conspiracy".
She married Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford and creator and writer of Downton Abbey. She was Lady-in-Waiting to HRH Princess Michael of Kent.

...an obsessive pining for a glorious past serves as a form of
therapeutic compensation for nations suffering from a problem of low
self-esteem in the present.
So,
now we come to us Israelis and to the invention of our past. It is
unpleasant to admit that archaeology here contains far too many
identifying signs of a science that has been enlisted on behalf of a
national obsession.

The specific discovery?

there was indeed something utterly ridiculous about the naive excitement
with which archaeologist Eilat Mazar recently presented to all and
sundry a round, gold plate...This, of course, delighted our prime minister, who was quick to react
with the comment: “This is historic testimony, of the highest order, to
the Jewish people’s link to Jerusalem, to its land and to its heritage.”
Blah, blah, blah...That one little gold plate bearing Jewish symbols amid some sort of
package that perhaps fell out of someone’s pocket in Jerusalem of the
7th century C.E. does not prove anything: It is simply a little gold
plate bearing Jewish symbols. What is new here?

But what really bothers him?

...if every piece of Jewish gold unearthed in Jerusalem is proof in the
eyes of our prime minister of the Jews’ longtime connection to their
country, then by the same token when a gold treasure from the Ottoman
period is found here - and quite a few have been - then the prime
minister of Turkey can claim it is historic testimony of the highest
order to the Turkish people’s link to Jerusalem. And when a Byzantine
treasure is found, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch will claim it proves the
historic connection of the Greeks to Jerusalem. And an Arab treasure
will prove to the Arabs their deep affinity with Jerusalem. There is no
end to this.

But what Ziffer ignores is that

a) we Israelis do not deny the links of Turkey (as the Ottoman Empire) or the Greeks to this land. Or Arabs.

b) to a great extent, it is our connection that is declared false and disingenuous.

c) those attempts at disinventivity are the corrosive - and sick - face of negativity that Ziffer goes for in his anti-Zionism.Like in his ending, that we could be a Jew who will

...deduce that because there is a Jewish symbol on the plate, the plate
itself belongs to him, for he is, after all, Jewish. And immediately the
third and unavoidable thought comes to mind: that if it is so easy to
scientifically appropriate for
ourselves a gold plate found in the ground in Jerusalem - then c’mon,
folks! While we’re on a scientific roll let’s appropriate the ground as
well, and Jerusalem as well.

A complaint by Oraib Rantawirib that the protection of the Temple Mount as an exclusive Muslim holy site is failing.Good news.Here:

The Protection of the Haram is a Mission beyond the Jordan, Palestine<< Friday, September 27 / September, 2013The Palestinians did not unite [and exhibit] the autism
in the field [in] defending ' first kiblah and a
third most sacred after the Two Holy Mosques...We
unfortunately do not see that what is happening [how] the level of security and political situation in
Israel affects the dimensions of the national and religious identity of
the Palestinian...a finger in the flesh...to the
extent that it does not please [the Palestinian] to heal.Do you radio and television stations and Palestinian media outlets have dialogues and interviews...Do
not relieve Jordan of its responsibilities...Jordan
has moved from condemnation and denunciation to the reprimand, and
there is a surge in the tone of Jordanian condemnation of Israeli action...

...it has became necessary for us
to think about the different scenarios, and worst-case scenarios...a scenario that will split mosque temporally or spatially
... allocating days for Jews and another for the Muslims , and spatially like the division of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron ... We
are approaching this scenario, has become the subject of research and
studied , in the decision - making institutions of the political and
security situation in Israel, and is not excluded that wake up the
morning of the day to see the Al-Aqsa Mosque and joined his brother in
Hebron.Protection
of the Al - Aqsa Mosque is not important Palestinian or Jordanian
exclusively, is an Arab task par excellence...Why
ignore Jerusalem while the funds of the organizations [result in] an empty Aqsa Intifada ,
while Arab money spent in the slave market and the fashion and the
latest manifestation of opulence corrupt?Questions
and questions , to be put forward strongly , and now, with the heads of
some ministers and Arab officials , still « protector » overabundance
of what they called the shouts and screams of militarization and
armament and mobilization...

We dealt mainly with minor contraventions of municipal ordinances but
stabbings were frequent and family feuds known as fasad would quite
often erupt. These were long-standing vendettas whereby a member of one
family would kill a member of another family, because that family had
previously killed a member of his family. Apparently, this family
obligation extended to the fifth degree of consanguinity. These murders
were easy to solve as the blood-stained, curved-bladed daggers
invariably used were generally recovered, and the identity of the
assailant was not concealed by either family. To avoid a prison
sentence, the murderer would often flee to another village, and his name
would then be added to our list of "absconded offenders".

Nablus was on the route through which hashish was brought by camel down
from Syria and we would quite often seize slabs of it wrapped in sacks
slung over the backs of camels. There was also the possibility of
firearms being brought along this route, so road blocks would be set up
at random, and we developed this into a fine art. A location would be
chosen beyond a bend in the road; two or three "knife-rests" interwoven
with coils of barbed wire were placed across the road to form an "S"
through which vehicles had to manoeuvre. The police vehicle would be
concealed facing outwards to deal with any vehicle that crashed through;
and the site was overlooked from a concealed armed position above. The
roadblock could be set up in minutes and rapidly moved to another
location... Nablus was a fervent Moslem stronghold and, in accordance with strict
Moslem tradition, the women dressed in black robes and veils when in the
town. These robes were not floor-length chadors, and some of the
younger ladies wore stylish shoes and transparent silk veils revealing
well made-up faces. The Bedouin women were completely covered but many
had elaborate facial tattoos and strings of gold coins dangling across
their faces as a sign of wealth....

...Once the U.N. resolution was adopted the situation in Nablus began to
deteriorate. At the beginning of 1948, a group of well-known bandits
cum-soldiers of fortune from Lebanon, headed by Fawzi Kawakji, was
reported in the area, and the locals began to carry rifles openly in
public. The crackle of rifle fire could be heard frequently at night,
but at this stage no one was being shot at and the firing was purely the
customary morale-boosting exercise. There were no British troops at all
in Samaria and the only soldiers we had ever seen were a few members of
the Trans-Jordan Frontier Force in their red and white checked kafiyas
(known locally as hatta wa egal) who would occasionally come across the
Allenby Bridge from Trans-Jordan some 30 kilometres away.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Intifada Youth #Coalition invite all Palestinian people and parties to join us and rise up on September 27th 2013. We call on all forces to stand up once again, for Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem and against Israeli Occupation

A Palestinian activist specialized in affairs of the occupied city of
Jerusalem...Rasim Obeidat...warned that the occupation authorities, in
light of the negotiations, are working on creating a new reality inside
the Aqsa mosque, through the daily incursions of the settlers under the
Israeli police protection, and the prevention of the Muslims from
entering the mosque.

But why is it a sponsored project subject of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. This section is amazing:

Today, Canaan is the largest supplier of fair trade olive oil in the world.

“The whole idea of bringing the farmers into the modern economy is
that it brings international awareness to the struggles that Palestinian
farmers [experience],” Abufarha said.

Even in the portion of the West Bank over which the Palestinian
Authority (PA) allegedly maintains civil and military control, and where
the majority of Canaan’s 49 current cooperatives exist, water
management projects proposed by the PA must first, under article 40 of
the 1995 Oslo Peace agreement, be approved by Israeli authorities.

Since few proposed Palestinian water resource systems have received
permits from the Israeli authorities, the number of Palestinian wells in
the West Bank has declined from 774 in 1967 to 328 in 2005. Many
farmers must rely on un-permitted wells to irrigate their crops. Samara,
for instance, provides 30 different farming families with water from
his un-permitted well. He says every day he fears it will be demolished.

I would suggest that the entity most responsible for this - bringing the farmers into the modern economy - is actually Israel.

As for those wells, the subject has been dealt with in depth (sorry for the pun). Try this (the short version). The 42-page version. A news story. there is more but I doubt the reporter reviewed that.

About Me

American born, my wife and I moved to Israel in 1970. We have lived at Shiloh together with our family since 1981. I was in the Betar youth movement in the US and UK. I have worked as a political aide to Members of Knesset and a Minister during 1981-1994, lectured at the Academy for National Studies 1977-1994, was director of Israel's Media Watch 1995-2000 and currently, I work at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. I was a guest media columnist on media affairs for The Jerusalem Post, op-ed contributor to various journals and for six years had a weekly media show on Arutz 7 radio. I serve as an unofficial spokesperson for the Jewish Communities in Judea & Samaria.